Mt Rainier

We tried the south approach but 2 of 3 passes were still closed due to snow. We returned home and had lunch then tried the western entrance with success. It was a long drive up and not too much traffic. We left home at 94 degrees and it was 49 on Mt Rainier. We both believe that seeing Mt Shasta from 10 and 50 miles away was much more impressive than 14,410 Rainier. You can't see Rainier from a distance (at least not from the direction we arrived) because of the Cascade Mountains surrounding it. On the way we stopped to check out the smallest Lutheran church in the US. Sunday services are at 2:30pm.

Randle, WA

Not much going on today, we stayed put and strolled around the CG. One big change......sunny and hot. Mid 80s, I am remembering that I like the 70s much better. When we got up we saw the mountains, snow and how pretty is is here now that the rain has stopped and clouds cleared.

Randle, WA

Yesterday was a laid back day, R&R, laundry, packing up. To day we got up at the terrible hour of 6:30am and were on the road at 7:45 in the rain. We wanted an early start as we stopped at an RV dealer to have our tires rotated and balanced plus the suspension lubed. We arrived at Maple Grove at 2:30 in the rain. This is another free CG and is also a golf course, it's just north of Mt St Helen and south of Mt Rainer. We're in the boonies and it's very peaceful & quiet. As you see in the picture is wet here, you can't see the hills behind us due to the low wet clouds.

Evergreen Aviation Museum

After Judy's water aerobics we drove to McMinnville (50 miles) to the above museum. Judy discovered Howard Hughes Flying Boat (Spruce Goose) is there so we had to go. If you blowup the interior picture of the Goose you'll see colorful beach balls in the bottom right corner. Howard had lots of them placed inside the Goose in several locations to ensure it wouldn't sink. The museum started as a winery and purchased the Spruce Goose for $1 after winning the contest committing to move it here to a new museum. The building is impressive and chuck full of planes & aviation history stuff. They have a B17, Corsair, WWI Jenny & Sopwith Camel, Spitfire, MIG-15 & 17, ME109, Ford Tri-Motor, Avenger, Hellcat, SR71 Blackbird, Phantom, B-25, P-51, a Russian space capsule, well over 60 planes. There' also a new IMAX theater there and they are opening a new big building this summer housing a Titan ICBM in it's silo and they are quite optimistic they will get a space shuttle when the are retired, scheduled for 2010. We also filled up the truck for over $230, the tanks were a little over half empty. Diesel was cheap, $4.23, at an Indian reservation & casino. The pics are of the Spruce Goose (built out of birch wood), ME109, Spitfire, B17, & Corsair.

Tillamook Air Museum & Cape Mears

Saturday it rained lightly all day. We joined others from the CG for a tacos potluck at the club house and then several of us played Mexican Train (dominoes). When Judy returned from church Sunday morning we went to the Air Museum housed in a WWII blimp hanger. The hanger covers over 7 acres, 1072 feet long, 192 feet tall; the doors are 120 feet tall and open 220 feet. I fit through them. We spent 3 hours checking the planes, WWII artifacts, history, the video hanger history and hanger itself out. Following the museum we drove along the coast and stopped at the Cape Mears lighthouse and overlooks. Check out the picture of the octopus tree.

Tillamook, OR & geocaching

Hey, a second mostly sunny day on the OR coast! Judy went to the pool this morning to do some water aerobics and Barbara (from a beautiful Newmar fifth wheel and color matching Freightliner medium duty truck) joined her. They planned our day to go geocaching, visit a couple beaches, and tour the cheese factory in Tillamook. Excellent day. We found the two caches we were seeking, great fun! At one site there were several para sailers jumping off a cliff and gently gliding down several hundred feet to the beach. We had a picnic at their landing site on the ocean. We then finished the afternoon at the Tillamook Cheese factory. We could walk around on the mezzanine and watch the process from start to finish. Of course they also make ice cream there so we had lots more ice cream to eat than the cheese samples.

Newport, OR

Today we traveled to Newport and met Gary Thurmond, one of the NuWa Owners Forum founders. He lives a few miles away and was gracious enough to show us around today. The pictures show Cape Foulweather, Yaquina Head Lighthouse (built in 1873), Yaquina Bay Lighthouse (built in 1871 with attached house), fishing fleet, seals & sea lions at the Newport docks plus a few others. We had a good lunch at the Chowder House at Nye Beach and made it back home to get a picture by the CG of the beach sunset. At least we had some sun today!